Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Condemns Anti-Choice Lawmakers in Louisiana for Enacting New Restrictions on Abortion
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — Today, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed into law two anti-choice bills to further restrict access to abortion care in Louisiana, including by bulking up the state’s “trigger ban” to automatically ban abortion should Roe v. Wade fall and putting into place restrictions on medication abortion care. The changes to the state’s “trigger ban” will increase the penalties for abortion care providers based on how far along a person is in their pregnancy, meaning a provider could face a prison term of up to 15 years and fines between $10,000 and $200,000.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:
“Extremist politicians in Louisiana are showing a complete and utter disregard for the health and well-being of the constituents they were elected to represent. They should be ashamed of themselves. Abortion rights and access to care are on the line in our country. Instead of working overtime to ensure the people of Louisiana can continue to make their own decisions about when to start or grow their families, these politicians are finding new ways to insert themselves into our personal lives. Voters won’t forget which politicians refused to protect their rights in this critical moment—and NARAL will be working to educate and mobilize them to ensure a champion for reproductive freedom wins the governor’s office in 2023.”
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon rule in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a case about Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban that directly challenges Roe v. Wade. A recently leaked draft majority opinion in the case indicates that the Court is poised to overturn Roe and end the constitutional right to abortion as we know it. If the landmark abortion rights decision is undone, 28 states are expected to take action to prohibit abortion outright. Of those, 13 states—including Louisiana—already have “trigger bans” in place which would ban abortion automatically.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.